Obama Aides Promote Health Care Plan

Fact check: Obama, Cruz distort health exchange facts

Sent! A link has been sent to your friend’s email address. 154 To find out more about Facebook commenting please read the Conversation Guidelines and FAQs Obama aides promote health care plan David Jackson, USA TODAY 9:31 a.m. EDT September 30, 2013 President Obama (Photo: Evan Vucci, AP) SHARE 468 CONNECT 57 TWEET 154 COMMENTEMAILMORE One day before the opening of new health care exchanges, the Obama administration is using a variety of techniques to encourage people to sign up. And they’ll need all of them, if a new poll is any guide. A survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation and NBC News says that “Americans remain deeply divided on the Affordable Care Act, with half confused about how it works or worried about how much it will cost them.” The poll found “an anemic level of enthusiasm from people about the program, with splits among party lines.” The Obama administration is trying to fight these perceptions in a variety of ways, including op-eds, special events, and even animation. All are tied to Tuesday’s start of sign-ups for new health care exchanges, designed to finance the plan to fulfill its goal of insuring nearly every American. The White House has launched a new “animated graphic” designed to explain how to apply for health insurance through the new marketplaces. “With one application, you’ll be able to compare all your coverage options side-by-side, learn if you can get lower costs based on your income, and enroll in a plan that fits your needs and your budget,” says the graphic posted on the White House website . Meanwhile, Vice President Biden and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius have authored op-eds that will appear in at least newspapers, explaining how to sign up for the exchanges. Biden’s column in particular is “designed to directly reach young Americans and states with high pockets of uninsured Americans” and that “break down the benefits of the law in plain English,” says the White House. Also on Monday, White House officials will host a summit to explain the law to military families, part of first lady Michelle Obama’s “Joining Forces” program. The Obama administration is likely to draw more support from Democrats than Republicans. The Kaiser/NBC poll indicated that most Democrats back the new health care law, while the vast majority of Republicans oppose it. “Among those surveyed, 29% said they were angry about the (law), compared to just 24% who described themselves as enthusiastic,” the poll said. “And while a quarter of Democrats say they are worried, the poll shows that three-fourths of Republicans fret.” SHARE 468 CONNECT 57 TWEET 154 COMMENTEMAILMORE USA NOW

Shutdown nearing, GOP seeks health care delay

20, 2013. (Photo: Orlin Wagner, AP) Health insurance exchanges open Oct. 1 Obama says the law will make health insurance affordable Republicans say the law will prove too expensive SHARE 661 CONNECT 72 TWEET 80 COMMENTEMAILMORE Both sides in the great Obamacare debate are distorting the facts about premium rates on the soon-to-open health exchanges to make their case for or against the law: President Obama gave false comparisons, saying that average premiums for the exchange in Illinois were 25% lower than current individual market rates. Illinois officials compared exchange rates with what the federal government had predicted the exchange premiums would be not with current individual market pricing. Obama said the average decrease in California was 33%. But officials said premiums were up to 29% lower compared with small-employer plans not individual plans. Sen. Ted Cruz claimed that the Ohio Department of Insurance announced an 88% average increase for the individual market. It didn’t. The department estimated a 41% increase on average in a press release that called for the law’s repeal. INTERACTIVE: What the health care law means for you Much has been made of what Americans can expect to pay for insurance on the state-based and federal exchanges created by the Affordable Care Act and set to launch on Oct. 1. Republicans and critics of the law have claimed the rates will be too expensive, while Obama and the White House have said they’ll be affordable for those needing to buy their own coverage. In his sit-down talk with former President Bill Clinton at the Clinton Global Initiative Health Care Forum on Sept.

Acknowledging as much, Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., said that as a conservative he had often found during Obama’s presidency that his choice was “between something bad or (something) horrible.” Reid pushes House to approve bill with Obamacare funding GOP aides said that under the legislation headed toward a vote, most portions of the health law that already have gone into effect would remain unchanged. That includes requirements for insurance companies to guarantee coverage for pre-existing conditions and to require children to be covered on their parents’ plans until age 26. It would not change a part of the law that reduces costs for seniors with high prescription drug expenses. One exception would give insurers or others the right not to provide abortion coverage, based on religious or moral objections. The measure would delay implementation of a requirement for all individuals to purchase coverage or face a penalty, and of a separate feature of the law that will create marketplaces where individuals can shop for coverage from private insurers. By repealing the medical device tax, the GOP measure also would raise deficits – an irony for a party that won the House majority in 2010 by pledging to get the nation’s finances under control. Issa snaps at reporter who predicts budget bill failure For a moment at least, the revised House proposal papered over a simmering dispute between Speaker John Boehner and the rest of the leadership, and tea party conservatives who have been more militant about abolishing the health law that all Republican lawmakers oppose. It was unclear whether members of the rank and file had consulted with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who has become the face of the “Defund Obamacare” campaign that tea party organizations are promoting and using as a fundraising tool. In debate on the House floor, Republicans adamantly rejected charges that they seek a government shutdown, and said their goal is to spare the nation from the effects of a law they said would cost jobs and reduce the quality of care. The law is an “attack and an assault on the free enterprise and the free economy,” said Rep. Pete Sessions of Texas. Democrats disagreed vociferously. “House Republicans are shutting down the government. They’re doing it intentionally.

“There’s a real need,” he said in an interview. “You see what this medicine does to them.” Tweed Inc. proposes to produce at least 20 strains to start, and will reserve 10 per cent of production for compassionate, low-cost prescriptions for impoverished patients, he says. Patients often use several grams a day to alleviate a wide range of symptoms, including cancer-related pain and nausea. They’ll no longer be allowed to grow it for themselves under the new rules. Revenues for the burgeoning new industry are expected to hit $1.3 billion a year by 2024, according to federal projections. And operators would be favourably positioned were marijuana ever legalized for recreational use, as it has been in two American states. Eric Nash of Island Harvest in Duncan, B.C., has applied for one of the new licences, banking on his experience as a licensed grower since 2002 in the current system. “The opportunity in the industry is significant,” he said in an interview. “We’ll see a lot of moving and shaking within the industry, with companies positioning. And I think we’ll see some mergers and acquisitions, strategic alliances formed.” “It’ll definitely yield benefits to the consumers and certainly for the economy and society in general.” Veterans Affairs Canada currently pays for medical marijuana for some patients, even though the product lacks official drug status. Some provinces are also being pressed to cover costs, as many users are too sick to work and rely on welfare.